The mobile Web is a hot area again. The iPhone has sparked much of the interest by giving consumers an easier mobile Web-browsing experience. Brands are establishing mobile marketing strategies and operators are starting to offer pricing plans for data that are understandable and affordable. You’d think a bright future for the mobile Web is predictable.Think again. There are bumps in the road ahead that must be avoided in order for the mobile Web to succeed.
I come from the IT and Internet industry where problems are openly aired and discussed. But in the mobile world, there seems to be a “mum's the word” covenant that poses a danger when troubling issues are swept under the carpet.I believe this is because those who understand these issues don't want to see changes, and are not accountable to the marketplace.
When we look at the potential of the mobile Web, however, it becomes clear that we must address these challenges if we’re going to be successful. We need to be aware of the risks as we navigate around those bumps in the mobile Internet road.
Greed bump: First of all, while many operators are making good money from off-deck billing services -- such as the U.K.'s Payforit initiative -- they smell the opportunity to make even more money in mobile advertising and search. However, their concern is that as soon as users learn they can change the home page in their mobile phone to whatever they want, the operators’ involvement with the user disappears and they have no place to sell advertising. We must convince operators that the mobile Web will increase traffic and in the end is better for everyone.
User experience bump: In Europe, several mobile operators have started to place “transcoders” or “filters” that intercept and replace Web (HTTP) traffic going to their customers’ phones. For instance, Vodafone uses a mobile optimizing technology that reformats Web pages downloaded to their servers to fit onto a mobile phone screen. The effects are sometimes relatively benign -- for example, reducing the sizes of images for faster download. In other cases, it is more damaging -- when operators mask the handset type from mobile Websites, preventing Website owners from providing a good experience to users.
Imagine the uproar if Verizon started filtering ads on their fixed broadband network and adding banner ads to Web pages. In the mobile world, where mobile operators can generally operate under the radar, this filtering practice may continue.However, I suspect that there is enough resistance to this idea, and sufficient competitive pressure between operators to stifle these misguided initiatives.
Targeting bump: I see a problem brewing with mobile advertising. In the early days of desktop Web surfing, advertisers could be relatively sure that PC users were affluent since they obviously bought a PC, paid for a modem and an ISP, and had installed a TCP/IP stack and browser. Most likely, these users lived in North America, Europe, or Japan. And if you advertised on English sites, they were probably in the U.K. or U.S.
In the mobile Internet universe, this scenario is almost the reverse. A user spending a lot of time browsing on their mobile device may not have a PC or a broadband line -- possibly because they can't afford it. Evidence points to the typical mobile Web user in the U.S. and U.K. being demographically flat rather than skewed to high income. Moreover, the most active mobile Web users are found in countries like South Africa, India, and Indonesia, where English is largely spoken, but the opportunity for advertising is very different from the U.K. or U.S.
When you combine this fact with the inability of traditional "PC browser" analytics to track or measure users coming from mobile devices through operator gateways, there is a risk that advertisers could be squandering their marketing investment.They may be setting themselves up for disappointment when they start to measure advertising effectiveness by more than page views. I know of more than one chat network supported by advertisers that don't realize that 90 percent of their page views and page hits are coming from Africa, India, and Indonesia.
As the mobile and Internet worlds continue to collide, I suspect some interesting fireworks will happen.I’d like to suggest we view these sparks as a great "opening ceremony" for the mobile Web. If I’m wrong, and we can’t get through these bumps in the road, then the outcome will be that the sparks light the funeral pyre of the mobile Web.
Just to add, Silicon Valley seems to get it. It waited until the iPhone – a capable device – was on the market and is now pouring money in…iFund, etc.No point farting around with dangleberrys and lame "feature phones."
I'm not even an iPhone owner. I recently moved from an E61 to an N95 8GB. Both are good. Nokia/Symbian is an OK platform. WinMob is OK too.
Overall, I'm ultra-enthusiastic about mobile data apps/services. Yes, there are barriers. But I don’t buy the argument that carriers are the problem. Actually, it's the reverse – these are the companies providing the *essential* connectivity.Where the barriers really lie are in:
Under-powered devices
Small screens
Awkward text input
No standardised UI. There isn’t even the equivalent of a "Return" key.
Poor integration between PC, Web, and mobiles. How to get a bookmark from one device to the other? Should be simple.
A belief by developers that they need to cater to users with low-end phones to capture the elusive mass-market. This is a dead-end.
Not enough fast 3G (HSPA, EVDO) – yes this makes a *big* difference
Lack of appropriate content or services
Operators can and should help solve these issues. But it's not their responsibility alone. Point in case is the iPhone, which covers most of these points, apart from 3G and that's coming.
Can't really comment on Alltel. I've never used it or seen it.
I think they are all at the same place, at least in my experience. Heck, I haven't used Alltel actually (but have used AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon), so for all I know Alltel is the leader.
I wonder how many companies have devoted some good thinkers and developers to develop the mobile user experience truly from the user perspective. Google and Yahoo have, but even then it's pretty lame. And the carriers....well, you nailed it, really--they are more concerned with what they can do with the site for their own benefit than structuring service that makes users feel like the mobile web is worth their time.
Maybe the experience will be helped by some new browsers coming out. Or, maybe a site for someone will be developed inside out, first for mobile, then for p.c. and Mac, where the computer version tries to emulate the mobile version.
Yeah, that idea looked as goofy to me as I typed it as it must look to read it, but it would be an interesting experiment:
New company sees the need to develop its very first web presence.
New company builds its presence completely for mobile service first.
New company builds the typical website second, off the mobile site.
New company tweaks the mobile site with any new discoveries from the traditional type of site.
Maybe the "traditional type of site" needs a new name, like stores were considered "brick and mortar" compared to the web. Giving them some legacy name, like "Click and Mortar" (I hear the ugh, but, hey, you're not payin'!) and comparing the mobile sites to the old, legacy sites might give them more panache and help stir up more creative attention to the mobile side.
If that's what happens now, why do Ray Anderson and the other commenters think not? I just set up my third phone in the last few months, and at least with Alltel, I got one list of a few different sites. No options to choose my flavor of home page. Yes, I can do it myself, but Alltel didn't make it easy for me, nor are they using the added real estate to show different (tiny) ads. Are other carriers more advanced? Which ones?
Why not offer the mobile customer a short set of choices -- news-focused, sports, entertainment, perhaps. Then offer options to expand, customize further. This will give them more, and topically-targeted real estate to sell to advertisers, and expose users to the idea of changing the home page. If the carrier provides sufficient choices for advanced customization, most users may never stray beyond their choices -- but the carrier will now know what each customer cares about, allowing further targeted (higher-priced) advertising.
Err.. that's what happens now.
Operators are the most sophisticated publishers on the mobile web right now. They've had most practice and have the biggest audiences.
A good list, although a little diplomatic for my taste: the greed bump is more like a Roadrunner cartoon "Construction Detour" which leads the unwary straight into the mountainside. Carriers have to flip their business model on its head to make money with data services. There are signs that they're beginning to accept that -- at least where it's most a problem, in the U.S. -- but they've got a long way to go.
Those home pages: Why not offer the mobile customer a short set of choices -- news-focused, sports, entertainment, perhaps. Then offer options to expand, customize further. This will give them more, and topically-targeted real estate to sell to advertisers, and expose users to the idea of changing the home page. If the carrier provides sufficient choices for advanced customization, most users may never stray beyond their choices -- but the carrier will now know what each customer cares about, allowing further targeted (higher-priced) advertising.
Where the pageviews are coming from: I thought the new generation of phones are all GPS-enabled, so there's no excuse for not knowing. Or won't be.
WAP: It would be nice if there were a common standard for "translating" site calls depending on device capability, but it will be even better when the devices have better screen tools.
The operator home pages don't do a bad job in the UK. It's bland, mainstream fare -- links to BBC, Sky, hotmail, google and stuff -- but generally it works and is useable.
The content on operator portals is fairly dynamic as well. So you get sports scores on Saturday; "hot or not" flirting in the late evening, etc.
The amazing thing is not many people are aware they can go off-portal.
1. The Mobile Operator home page..... seems a misnomer as most pages seem like after thoughts. The content seems to be of interest to a very limited profile. And this is the opportunity that no operator seems able to address. Surely there are revenue opportunities being lost..
2. The mobile experience has some way to go. Sites , functionality of browsers are some of the issues that need work before advertising even begins to play a role.
3. As a user of mobile service, I'd rather not have any advertising on my phone. If advertising is indeed a must, are customer safeguards in place ? Concerns with privacy and security would seemingly be more ... and ofcourse the simplest one...how easy is it to opt out...
I think the opportunity is a big one for advertisers too. But the challenge does seem to be how to target ads so they are indeed relevant without detracting from the users intent to find the content they are seeking.
When I have used my phone to browse for something I am already paying a fair price for the "right to browse" internet access fees, etc. Therefore, I don't really want to be bombarded with ads that take up my time and bandwidth. If my phone provider wanted to let me browse for free in exchange for ads, I would likely take them up on it in my spare time, but I would want the option to go for full premium ad free service if I had a business priority issue and was stuck on remote.
The quandry is how to identify the mobile user's intent and to deliver accurate content at the time.
These bumps in the road are well identified by Mr. Anderson. Thanks for the post.
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